Russia’s pullout of the Black Sea grain deal on Monday, July 17, has sparked concerns of rising grain prices and hunger in grain importing countries.
The deal was agreed with the help of Turkey and the United Nations (UN) in July 2022 and allowed Ukraine to continue to export grain through its southern ports. Ukraine is a large producer of wheat, corn and sunflower oil and the Russian invasion of the country has contributed to global food price rises and worsened poverty in developing countries.
Wheat prices climbed after the termination of the deal on Monday but recorded bigger increases on Wednesday after Russian bombing of Ukrainian ports and a warning from Russia that ships to Ukraine would be treated as potentially carrying military cargoes.
The Wall Street Journal reported that soft-red winter wheat features in Chicago have climbed up 8.5% to about USD 7.28% a bushel. Hard-red winter wheat was up 5.2% to USD 8.67 a bushedl in the US, while milling wheat in Paris added 8.2%
Back in 2022, when there were fears about the impact of a war in Ukraine on grain supply chains, Bulgarian ethyl alcohol producer Essentica commented that it is sourcing all the raw materials it needs from Bulgarian producers and it has never resorted to imports.
